For gamin which is better, WiFi or Wired?

I prefer wired by far, cuz u dont get the black outs u get wit wireless sometimes.
 
well i would prefer wired because it should be a bit more reliable and faster, but i dont think it should make too big of a difference.... now speed might matter when sharing files within a network (802.11g has 54mbps half duplex compared to 100baseTX(i hope im not using the wrong term for that) would be 100mbps full deplex. But I think if you are playing online gaming then it would have more to do with your actual internet connection rather than you medium that you use to get it.
I'm not really an expert on the matter, but that is my opinion on it atleast.
 
No real articles; Just common sense. Wired is more reliable. That's about the only difference between the two.

Yes, will typically be about 1-5ms added latency. No, this isn't significant, no matter what anybody here may say ( for online games at least ).
 
Wired pretty much always works. Wireless....there's a lot of variables, due to equipment, environment, etc. Works OK for some people, for others..it's hit 'n miss and the source of numerous compliants.
 
You are never going to see much of a difference between online gaming through wireless or wired connection besides the reliability issue. If you think about it the typical internet connection runs up to 5mbps whereas your typical wireless runs at 54mbps and wired at 100mbps which is significantly more bandwidth than your internet. So regardless of your network connection you are going to get throttled at the gateway to the cloud.

However, internetwork transfers and the such are going to benefit much more going through a wired connection because of the additional bandwidth and reliability. The only reason I see to get a wireless connection setup is the convinence. Wired FTW.
 
RobotChild said:
I'm fairly sure wired is, but can anyone clarify why?
Any articles on the subject?
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wired in almost all instances. Unless you start going to extremes (56k wired modem vs. 54Mbit WLAN).

As to articles: you will want to look for BER approximations for wireless vs. wired channels. Also, look for some statistical analysis on wireless link stability.
 
If it is feasible, go wired...otherwise, wireless will give you no decrease in performance.

how will wireless add up to 5ms? I ping my router from across my house, 1ms. What does a wired ping look like? <1ms. So let's just say it takes a half a milisecond for wired...that means you are adding about half to 1 ms by going wireless. I highly doubt you would notice that at all.
 
Fark_Maniac said:
how will wireless add up to 5ms? I ping my router from across my house, 1ms. What does a wired ping look like? <1ms. So let's just say it takes a half a milisecond for wired...that means you are adding about half to 1 ms by going wireless. I highly doubt you would notice that at all.
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I've seen it; I suspect it's when the keys are being changed out, or when the connection is being initiated.

It spikes to 4-5ms, then back down to 1ms.
 
"If you think about it the typical internet connection runs up to 5mbps whereas your typical wireless runs at 54mbps and wired at 100mbps which is significantly more bandwidth than your internet"

Not really the issue here. The issue is latency and higher bandwidth doesn't equal lower latency as an absolute.

But as mentioned, there would be no discernible difference in a wired vs. wireless ping. With the very big IF. If your WLAN is setup correctly and your environment is such that obstructions are not an issue. IF your signal quality is excellent. If it is not, if there is noise, then you'll see a difference. In a perfect world there is no difference. In a practical one, and I am a big wireless advocate, there is. Sometimes. So having said that, given the choice and practicality, wired is an easy choice over wireless when gaming is the primary concern.
 
XOR != OR said:
I've seen it; I suspect it's when the keys are being changed out, or when the connection is being initiated.

It spikes to 4-5ms, then back down to 1ms.
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intiated or renegotiated? I don't think a person would be playing a game when a connection is first initiated.

If a person has renegotiation issues (Speeds go from 54 - 48 - 11 - 5 - 2 - 1), I don't believe they shoud be gaming. They should be fixing their equipment to be stable.
 
Fark_Maniac said:
how will wireless add up to 5ms? I ping my router from across my house, 1ms. What does a wired ping look like? <1ms. So let's just say it takes a half a milisecond for wired...that means you are adding about half to 1 ms by going wireless. I highly doubt you would notice that at all.
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Wireless is subject to interference (causing lag or packetloss) under normal operation. A perfect wireless connection is indeed pretty much indistinguishable from a perfect wired connection for gaming, but the chances of getting a perfect wireless connection are much smaller.

If going wired isn't a significant inconvenience, I would always use that for my main gaming rig. If running the wires is going to be a big hassle, you can certainly make wireless work, but you may spend a bit of time tweaking to get a solid signal, and/or suffer from occasional lag spikes.
 
Fark_Maniac said:
intiated or renegotiated? I don't think a person would be playing a game when a connection is first initiated.

If a person has renegotiation issues (Speeds go from 54 - 48 - 11 - 5 - 2 - 1), I don't believe they shoud be gaming. They should be fixing their equipment to be stable.
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I didn't say renegotiation; I said the keys were being changed out. Like the old key expires and a new one is generated and put in place.

Regardless, I don't really know why it spikes, but it does. I've seen it on multiple connections.
 
reyalp said:
If going wired isn't a significant inconvenience, I would always use that for my main gaming rig. If running the wires is going to be a big hassle, you can certainly make wireless work, but you may spend a bit of time tweaking to get a solid signal, and/or suffer from occasional lag spikes.
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I'd say it is all dependent on the hardware used. I've had Intel 2200bg, Netgear WG311v2, and Linksys' USB 'G' NICs...and could not get a clean signal...even when touching the antenaes together on both a WRT54G v2.0 and a Netgear 'G' router. However, using a Belkin 'B' USB NIC and/or a Netgear WG311v1 and problems went away. I've never had a problem with 'b' speeds. So a solution would be to throttle down to 'b' mode. While gaming, you'll never use that much bandwidth with today's games. A bandaid? Yes. But give it a few years...'N' will be standardized and prices will come down.


XOR != OR said:
I didn't say renegotiation; I said the keys were being changed out. Like the old key expires and a new one is generated and put in place.

Regardless, I don't really know why it spikes, but it does. I've seen it on multiple connections.
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I was assuming you were talking about renegotiation. Perhaps I'm missing something, but when does a key get "generated"? the OP never said what encryption was to be used, if any. If something like WEP, the key doesn't "generate"...it is just the key. Granted it may be refreshed, but that shouldn't happen more than once a day.

I too have seen the negotiated speed of wireless connection fluctuate...but usually on Intel 2200bg cards. My 2915abg card works without a hitch.
 
Fark_Maniac said:
I was assuming you were talking about renegotiation. Perhaps I'm missing something, but when does a key get "generated"? the OP never said what encryption was to be used, if any. If something like WEP, the key doesn't "generate"...it is just the key. Granted it may be refreshed, but that shouldn't happen more than once a day.
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I had simply assumed encryption was being used, and something better than WEP. It'd be silly not to.

WPA regens it's keys on a fixed schedule ( which you can modify. Mine are set to refresh every ten minutes, default may be an hour ).
 
Fark_Maniac said:
I'd say it is all dependent on the hardware used. I've had Intel 2200bg, Netgear WG311v2, and Linksys' USB 'G' NICs...and could not get a clean signal...even when touching the antenaes together on both a WRT54G v2.0 and a Netgear 'G' router. However, using a Belkin 'B' USB NIC and/or a Netgear WG311v1 and problems went away.
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I wouldn't extrapolate too far based on that experience . In general wifi is subject to RF interference and physical obstructions. Those factors do not depend entirely on the equipment, and may be outside of your control.

Barring defective hardware, wired ethernet will perform at it's maximum capability 100% of the time. There is a fair chance that wireless will not, and at best will not be better than a wired connection. If the convenience of running wires isn't an issue, then there isn't really any reason to use wireless.

If running wires is a problem, or you want the ability to roam around, by all means, use wireless. If you have decent equipment, chances are it will work just fine. OTOH, if your main gaming rig is in a fixed position and you can run a cable without any trouble, you might as well do that. The equipment is cheap enough that you can still have wireless capability too.
 
oh yeah, if you can run wired...do it. but if not feasible, and setup to have a stable connection, a wireless connection will see very little decrease in gaming performance.
 
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